2017-18 Pregnancy Week 36

At my appointment just before I was 36 weeks, this was a Monday, they mentioned to me that my blood pressure was a little higher than normal but that I was still within a normal range. They told me that they were going to watch it at each of my appointments from then on. I began having NSTs (non-stress tests) which monitor both me and the babies to make sure we're all doing ok and to make sure that I wasn't having contractions unknowingly the week before and had another during that appointment. Everything went great! The second time I had it done they had some trouble making sure they had both babies as their heart rates were so similar! A couple days later, on Wednesday, I noticed that I had a headache. I had some shopping to do that day and while I was out I had this feeling that I should buy an auto blood pressure cuff, and so I did. When I got home I took my blood pressure and it was really high. So I messaged my nurse friend who had me recheck it and it was still high. I messaged Randy and let him know what was going on. My nurse friend had me take some tylenol for my headache and told me to try to relax and retest in a couple hours. The tylenol did not even touch my headache. And when I retested my blood pressure it was not any better than before. We decided to go in to labor and delivery to be checked out just in case.

Once in labor and delivery they took me to an examination room to be checked out. They immediately had me all hooked up to machines monitoring my blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen, as well as, an NST machine to keep an eye on the babies and myself. My blood pressure was still high and I still had a headache so they gave me some medication called fentanyl. That also did not touch my headache. We were there for a few hours while they monitored my blood pressure, which finally did go down. The doctor on call came in to talk with us. She said that since I still had the headache despite the medication they gave me they were hesitant to send me home. But since my blood pressure was back down into normal range and because I already had an appointment the next day with my doctor, she was going to allow us to go home, on the condition that if the headache worsened that we came right back to be induced. So we went home.

Me all hooked up at the hospital.

The next day (Thursday), my headache was slightly better and stayed that way all day. At my appointment that afternoon, my doctor immediately was asking us what we wanted to do. She recommended that we induce ASAP before things got worse and we agreed with her. She asked us if we wanted to just plan for a c-section or if we wanted to attempt a vaginal delivery as Baby B was again transverse and could flip either direction. We trusted my doctor's knowledge enough and decided to go ahead with the vaginal delivery. She then checked me to see where I was at dilation-wise. I was dilated to a 3.5 and was 80% effaced which she was happy about because that makes a great starting point. We were scheduled to be induced that next morning and were told to be at the hospital by 7am.

Til next time!
Becca

2017-18 Pregnancy Weeks 29-35

Weeks 29 & 30- Had another growth check! Baby A is FINALLY bigger than B!! He is in the 30th percentile and weighs approximately 2lbs 11oz. He is head down and is sitting pretty low. B is in the 23rd percentile and weighs approximately 2lbs 8oz. He is transverse and loves my belly button area. Doctor says everything looks great and they are doing really well with their growth because they are measuring right along with where a singleton pregnancy would be right now. My belly is measuring 35 weeks now! Because they are doing so well with their growth it'll be another month before our next growth check.  I will have regular check-ups every two weeks from now on but not having to watch their growth is reassuring! Only 6-8 more weeks to go! (As long as these two cooperate and don't try to come early)

Weeks 31 & 32- This week we had another appointment! Baby A was really hard to measure because he is sitting super low. And boy can I feel it! His weight estimate is 3lbs 11oz but our guess is he is probably closer to 3lb 4oz. Baby B was really easy to measure because he is still transverse. His weight estimate is 3lb 1oz. My doctor's goal date for these boys to make it to is May 1. That's less than 4 weeks away! Our ideal goal is May 17! It's getting closer!! My belly is measuring 38 weeks compared to a singleton pregnancy. I'm super curious to know what I'll measure just before I give birth!

Weeks 33 & 34- We got the car seats in the car! According to our doctor, as long as there isn't anything extreme, if these two come now out local NICU would be able to care for them. We're hoping they've still got a good two weeks or more left before they come though!! For those who are curious (like me lol), based on a singleton pregnancy, my belly (fundal height for those who know what that is) now measures are 42 weeks! And is still growing! As of our last appointment Baby A is measuring 4lbs 3oz and Baby B is measuring 3lbs 15oz. Which is awesome!! If we make it to about 37-38 weeks this will put them each at about 6-7lbs each, which I would love. They are now both head down, and because of this, my doctor has given the green light for a vaginal birth instead of a c-section!! We're so excited and can't wait to meet these two little cuties! We also had pictures taken! I'll add a couple of my favorites.

This is Baby B's head! He would stretch out and we'd see his head!

Week 35- We made it to 35 weeks! We now have a pediatrician for the two boys which is awesome and a relief! Both are still kicking away and sometimes moving in ways that make me wonder what they are doing. I'm doing pretty good. I'm really felling the hip pain this past week and it makes me wonder if they've dropped a little. Both us and our doctor want at least one more week before they're born, if not more. We have their hospital bag packed!! Ours is halfway packed,.. We'll finish packing tomorrow or Monday.

Til next time!
Becca

2017-18 Pregnancy Weeks 20-23

I know I'm way behind! I wanted to let you all know that even though this was a couple years ago now I will be writing as if it was currently happening. Mainly because I am writing from my own journal entries.

We hit 20 weeks and we are super excited because our anatomy scan for the twins is scheduled! We are so excited to find out what we are having! The scan went very well, both babies were growing great. She was a little concerned about Baby A as it's femurs were a little short compared to where it's growth should be overall. She said that this could be a sign of down syndrome and recommended that we do some testing to find out for sure. We decided not to do this testing and said that we would be prepared for whatever happened. Then she told us the genders! She went so quick that I was happy to have the ultrasound pictures to see a little more clearly. Watch the video of us revealing the genders to my family!

Baby A

Baby B

Twin boys! We were so excited!!

21 weeks- This week was crazy to say the least. We had our first (and hopefully only) emergency run to the hospital. I was having extreme pain in my lower right abdomen and right lower back. My doctor was worried it was appendicitis and told me to go in immediately. After spending a few hours in labor and delivery, and lots of tests, they determined that it was not my appendix, and that I was having round ligament pain. Talk about feeling stupid lol! While there, they also discovered that my cervix had begun to funnel and they said that they would be watching it closely to hopefully prevent the babies from coming sooner than they should.

Weeks 22-23- We finally settled on the names for our boys! Roger Wade Denson and Evan Frank Denson, which baby was going to have which name we would decide once we saw them in person.  We had a growth check during this time. They were getting big! Baby A was measuring 15oz and Baby B was measuring 1lb 3oz. I had only gained 12lbs at this point and my doctor said that this weight was most likely all baby (fluid, placentas, actual babies). They also checked my cervix to make sure that the funneling wasn't getting worse. Thankfully, there had been no change! Which meant I did not need to go on bed rest. Though I did try to stay off my feet as much as possible.

In just 3 weeks time we had so much happen! The rest of my pregnancy updates will be following quickly so that I can get my birth story written before I forget everything that happened! Since it's been almost 2 years now!

Til next time!

Becca

2017-18 Pregnancy Weeks 24-28

Weeks 24-25. I reached the survival point! If the twins decided that now was the time they needed to come then they had a high chance of survival! Thankfully, this was not the case. They decided to stay in and I had no more signs of worsening funneling! At this point we were starting to be able to see kicks on the outside! They were kicking and rolling all around. I started having braxton hicks during this time, though I didn't realize what they were at the time. I also had the beginnings of nesting kick in. Because of this, we were working hard on setting up the nursery and getting it organized. We were able to get it painted and both cribs set up!

 

Week 26- Sometimes I feel like this pregnancy is going by way too slow. I just want these two boys here already!! Though I want them to stay in there for as long as possible so they are as healthy as can be! I'm starting to feel pretty big and am also starting to feel the toll these two are taking on my body. I'm just trying to rest as much as possible so that I am ready for each day. A ton of my "grunge shirts" no longer fit my belly and so I have started to steal some of Randy's to wear when I am at home. It's also so much fun to watch them kick and move around now that we can see it from the outside!

Week 27- 3rd Trimester!! I had my glucose and blood tests done to check for gestational diabetes, anemia, and to make sure I'm not positive for antibodies as I am RH-. I got the results back and I do not have gestational diabetes! I'm also negative for the antibodies! So I will be getting my rhogam shot at my next appointment. My blood work did show that I was anemic and so my doctor had me start a slow release iron pill along with a vitamin c tablet to help my body absorb the iron. It was amazing how much my energy level went up after being on it for a few days! The babies are getting bigger and have started making it hard for me to breathe at times as they like to sit up by my lungs (feels like they're in my lungs sometimes!).

Week 28- We got to see both boys this week! They are doing great! Baby A is weighing in at approximately 2 lbs and is a short little guy. He is in the 28th percentile overall. Baby B is weighing in at 2lbs 5oz and he is about average in length. He is in the 44th percentile overall. They both were stretched all the way out which was fun to see because they're usually curled up! A is stretched across my lower pelvis with his legs stretched up my left side. B had his head right around my belly button and his legs stretched straight across towards my right side sometimes poking into my ribs and lungs. We know that Baby A has at least a little bit of hair so far on the back of his head because we saw it on the ultrasound! Our doctor joked that he may come out with a mullet since that's the only place we could see it lol! My doctor also measured my fundal height to see how big I am compared to a single baby pregnancy. I am currently measuring 32.5 weeks! Almost one whole month bigger than where I actually am!

See the next few weeks in my next blog post!

Til next time!

Becca

2017-18 Pregnancy Weeks 11-19

I was pretty terrible once I hit 10 weeks about taking belly pictures. So I have a large gap between 10 weeks and 14 weeks where I didn't take any photos. During that time my morning sickness slowly got better to where I was only throwing up every other day or so. I still was extremely tired and I was still pretty nauseous all the time.

We announced to everyone else that didn't know already that we were expecting when I was about 12 weeks. Here's the photos we used!

You can kinda see my little belly! 

I was in the brown shirt for those who can't tell!

We had to use our fur babies!

Once I hit 14 weeks I was really starting to show and realized that I needed to be better about taking weekly pictures. It helped that I had family that started asking me to send them each week and if I didn't they would bug me until I did lol. So here I am at 14 weeks!

By 15 weeks I was starting to regain my energy little by little. It probably helped that I wasn't throwing up as often!

We had an ultrasound at 16 weeks. We were hoping to possibly find out the genders but our babies did not cooperate and both had their little bums pressed up against my uterine wall and they would not budge! So we were going to have to wait until the anatomy scan at 20 weeks. Our doctor said that they would for sure be able to see them then because they would be double the size.

By 17 weeks I was starting to feel so much better. I rarely puked and had almost all of my energy back! My belly also started to really pop out and I felt like I was huge! (Though I definitely wasn't.)

My morning sickness completely disappeared by the time I was 18 weeks! I was starting to be able to feel little baby kicks on the outside and every so often one side of my belly would be larger than the other because one of the babies would stretch out and just sit there! My energy levels were back to almost normal and I told Randy he needed to take advantage because I didn't know how long they would last.

When I was 19 weeks Randy felt the babies kick for the first time! I also got sick with a cold which is no fun while pregnant. You can't take anything hardly at all for it! And so you just have to pretty much suffer through it.

Sometime during these weeks I started to use a pregnancy pillow. This was a lifesaver for me in some ways. Though there were definitely times that I hated it because all I wanted to do was sleep on my back and this forced me to sleep on my side. I think our dog Leo loved it the most though. There were many times when he'd disappear and I'd find him curled up on the bed using the pillow lol!

Our next big step was finding out the genders! It was getting so close and we could not wait!

Til next time!
Becca

2017-18 Pregnancy Weeks 4-10

Prepare for a long post! So much happened in this time span. First symptoms, ultrasounds, a bleeding scare, Disneyland, and graduating from our fertility center!

One of the first things I did besides taking a pregnancy test after finding out that I actually was pregnant, was take my first "bump" picture. So I decided how I wanted to take them and had Randy take it.

First Official Bump Picture!

At 4 weeks I was still extremely bloated from my egg retrieval, as you can see in the photo, and my first symptoms started to kick in. I was extremely nauseous all the time and was extra tired and all I wanted to do was drink lots of fluids. I also got my first craving, chips and salsa! Which never went away. We also had our second blood test. My HCG levels had risen! This was great news!!

I didn't take a belly picture for this week. 

At 5 weeks I puked for the first time. And then 2 more times after that. This was a relief to me because it let me know that my pregnancy was most likely progressing. I also started to have aversions to any type of sweet food.

At 6 weeks my bloating had finally started to go down only to just bloat right back up again. I only puked 3 times during the 5-6 week time period. I continued to be tired and nauseous constantly.

By 7 weeks my symptoms had increased! I puked almost every day totaling 5 times. I was bloated and added gassiness to the mix. I added a new craving, it was a very specific craving, Mac and Cheese great value brand but it had to be the spiral noodles. I also caved and bought a pair of maternity pants. I don't know why I didn't do that sooner! So much more comfortable than the rubber band around my pants button trick.

This week we also had our first ultrasound! We were so excited and nervous! We had no idea if both embryos had taken or just one and we also had the fear that there would be no heartbeat. It was also going to be the kickoff to our trip to Disneyland.  We traveled down to our fertility center for our appointment. We got checked in and they called us back. I got ready and then we waited for the doctor who was going to be performing the ultrasound. I was so nervous (and cold) I was literally shaking on the table. She finally came in and began the ultrasound. When she found the baby I immediately looked for the heartbeat and once I saw one it was such a huge relief that I actually said "there's the heartbeat!"

Heartbeat was measuring at 142 BPM!

The doctor after taking the picture said that she was going to continue to look around for a minute. I had the thought, why? What is she looking for? And then she found the second baby! I was so excited that the first had a heartbeat that I'd totally forgotten that it was possible there could be 2! This baby also had a heartbeat!!

Heartbeat for this baby was also measuring at 142 BPM!

Here's both babies on one screen!

Once the appointment was over we called Randy's parents to let them know that it was twins (my parents had to wait until we were back from Disneyland). They were so excited! That night we were staying with Randy's Grandma and so we traveled to her house. Once there I had to go to the bathroom. I ended up having some blood when I wiped which scared me a little! Since I had just had a transvaginal ultrasound I kept note but didn't worry too much. I told Randy and said I'd keep an eye on it and if it got worse we would call or go in. (luckily it didn't) 

The next day we traveled down to meet Randy's family at his brother's house where we were going to caravan from to there to Disneyland. This is where we told 2 of Randy's siblings and their families that our IVF had worked and that we were expecting twins! Then we went to Disneyland!

While traveling I did not get sick while in the car (thank goodness!) as long as I was constantly snacking on something I was just fine! Chips were my best friend lol. While driving down to Disneyland we met up with Randy's last sibling and his family. We told them we were expecting twins and they were super excited because they also have a set of IVF twins! Those twins were also super excited because they would get twin cousins.

While at Disneyland I mainly puked in the morning and once it was in the afternoon after a long day. I luckily did not get sick in the actual park. I fell asleep most nights by 8 pm (I felt bad but I knew I needed the sleep). We had lots of fun while there though I was sad I couldn't ride a few of the rides.

Picture of us at Disneyland!

While traveling back home we stopped at my parents house where all of my siblings were waiting anxiously for news. Then we told them all that we were expecting twins and they all were so excited saying, we knew it!

I didn't end up taking an 8 week photo since we were in Disneyland so my next photo wasn't until 9 weeks. At this point I decided that it was easier for me to take pictures in a different way than wait for Randy to take them for me. This is the new format I chose and I actually liked it better because I felt like it showed my belly a little better as it was a closer shot.

 By this point I had stopped keeping track of how often I puked. I do know I was puking at least once a day if not more. I still was super tired and was always nauseous unless I was snacking on something. I was still spotting off and on and we had our second set of ultrasounds during this week. We mentioned it to my doctor and they decided to give me my Rhogam shot just as a precaution. The ultrasound went great! Both babies were healthy and growing. Baby A's heart rate was at 175 and Baby B's heart rate was at 188. Both good and strong! Because everything was going so well they gave me instructions to stop taking the progesterone suppositories at the 10 week mark! And we were able to officially graduate from their clinic to my actual OBGYN!

Between 9 and 10 weeks my belly started to show a little bit more! It was noticeable to me at least lol. Once I stopped the suppositories and after the Rhogam shot my spotting that I was having completely stopped! After some research I discovered that it was fairly common for the suppositories to irritate the cervix and cause bleeding. So I am pretty sure that this was what was causing the spotting I was having. My morning sickness was starting to recede a little bit to where it was every day to every other day that I was puking. During this time I also began to feel little flutters of movement! It wasn't very often but often enough it gave my mind some ease. This was way earlier than I expected but I loved it!

We were so excited to make it this far with 2 healthy babies! And we were relieved that my spotting had stopped and we couldn't wait to see what the next few weeks would bring us!

Til next time!
Becca

The Results: Embryo Transfer September 22, 2017

It was finally time to make the trip down for my blood pregnancy test. I have to be honest in saying that it was so so tempting to take an at home test before we went but I resisted. Mostly because I was so afraid of what the results would say. And I wanted to find out at the same time as Randy with a doctor confirming those results. Whether they were negative, or positive.

We made the long drive down and waited for my appointment. This appointment we knew was going to be super quick since it was only a blood draw. Randy took a picture for me because I wanted to document it. It is the picture shown below.

We were both super nervous but hopeful! We knew that we'd get the results that day sometime and it was so hard to wait. Once the appointment was over we went to get our "just in case we are" pregnancy announcement stuff for telling our families who were also anxiously awaiting the news, good or bad. Then we began our drive back to Randy's parents house which was where our dogs were staying and the first official stop on our way home. We were hoping to get the phone call before we got there so we could just tell them. We ended up stopping for lunch on the drive there and we checked our phone for messages since we'd had no service. No call.

We finally made it to Randy's parents house and we checked our phones. Still no call. So we went in and just chatted for a while, knowing we'd have to head home soon so it wasn't too late when we got home. While chatting I just happened to look at my phone and noticed that I had a voicemail. So I convinced Randy to go outside and play with the dogs with me. He didn't know that I had a voicemail and I didn't tell him until we were outside where we could have some privacy while listening to it. Here is the transcription of what that voicemail said names of the nurse and dr have been edited out:

Hi Becca, this is -- from Dr --'s office.

 I was just calling to go over some blood work with you. 

If you can just give me a call at -- Thank you.

After hearing that we began to expect the worst. Because in our experience they leave good news on voicemail and bad news they want to talk to you so they can break it gently. After gathering our composure we made the call to get the results.

The phone call went something along these lines. (We don't have a transcript of this unfortunately just some poor memories lol) They confirmed it was me and then they said something like, so yes, we wanted to go over your blood test results. Randy and I were both saying yes, and uh huh, and super nervous! Then she said, Congratulations! It's positive! I literally lost all speech. I couldn't even say anything I was so shocked. Both Randy and I were in tears! She asked if we were still there and Randy at least was able to reply, Yes, I don't think she can speak. She then told us that my HCG levels were above 300 which was very good because they want them at about 100 at this point. She told me to continue with my progesterone suppositories 3 times a day. When I finally could say something we both thanked her and hung up.

We both hugged and kissed and cried a lot and then Randy went to the car to grab what we had bought in order to tell our families. We had bought a pink and a blue pacifier to attach to our dogs collars. So we attached them and went in. It took Randy's parents a minute before seeing them and then we were all in tears again!

When it was time to go we made our way to my parent's house, which is along our long drive home. We attached the pacifiers again and it took my parents a little longer to spot them but once they did we were all in tears again! Then after they knew and we had chatted for a while we continued on home.

The next morning I wanted to have solid proof that, Yes, I was actually pregnant. And so I took a pregnancy test. It came up positive almost immediately!! This was definitely more positive than the trigger shot gave me. I finally believed it, at least a little bit. I was still in complete shock!

Looking back at those 8 days of waiting once I got home, I did have a couple of clues that made me think and hope that I was pregnant. First, I had some pretty intense cramping pains, all localized to one side of my uterus. I now know that this was most likely implantation cramping. I had written it off because I always start cramping about a week before my expected period. Another clue was when we went to the store Murdochs. I love the equine section and all the smells there. But that time we went I literally had to race through it and hold my breath because it smelled SO BAD! I was hopeful that this was a sign at the time but I was trying not to raise my hopes too high. So I wrote it off as just my imagination.

We were now in the waiting game again. I had another blood test the next week. A whole week before we would know if my HCG had increased or if it had decreased!

Til next time!
Becca